The Rivers Trust is calling for a radical change in approach to water monitoring, especially using citizen science data alongside other regulated and academic monitoring to build a more accurate picture of the pressures on river health.
In its work alongside other river experts, scientists, regulators, and industry through the Catchment Systems Thinking Cooperative (CaSTCo), the Trust is advocating for a more holistic, joined-up approach to environmental monitoring with recommendations sent to the Independent Water Commission, with the hope for more inclusive and effective decision making, locally and nationally.
Michelle Walker, Technical Director at The Rivers Trust, said, “Our river catchments are facing increasing pressures from climate change, population growth, biodiversity loss and pollution. To tackle these problems, we need good data about the current state of the environment to help us identify the issues and to target the work to fix them. However government monitoring of the environment has been declining for years, so we have big gaps in our knowledge.
“The Rivers Trust is calling for a national monitoring framework where data from citizen scientists, charities, universities, businesses and government can be combined to build a much clearer, shared understanding of the state of our rivers to inform the best way to improve their health.”
The call for more collaborative and integrated monitoring also comes ahead of the The Rivers Trust’s Big River Watch, which takes place between 25th April – 1st May.
Nearly 12,000 people have taken part in the Big River Watch since 2023, with more than 7,000 saying they’re new to citizen science. The Big River Watch helps build a more complete picture of river health by involving the public in vital data collection. Citizen science initiatives like The Big River Watch help direct environmental improvements where they are most needed, as well as engaging the public with their local river.
Tessa Wardley, Director of Communications & Advocacy at The Rivers Trust said, “The Independent Water Commission is a great opportunity to set out what we need from government in relation to river health and now is the moment when we can all make a difference. Through CaSTCo we have gathered together individuals, groups and organisations into a Monitoring Task Force to develop a consensus and we are asking the Commission to recommend the adoption of the proposed collaborative catchment monitoring, as the basis for achieving land and water that is resilient in the face of a changing climate.
“People care about their rivers and getting involved in community-led monitoring initiatives like The Big River Watch not only gathers invaluable information about the health of our rivers, but it also sends a strong message to the government about how much we, their electorate, care.”